Codagenix Inc, a US-based clinical-stage biotechnology company, announced on Wednesday that it has started dosing in a paediatric Phase one study assessing CodaVax-RSV, a live-attenuated, intranasal vaccine candidate to prevent disease caused by respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).

The study has an age de-escalation, dose escalation design specifically evaluating safety and immunogenicity in the 6-month to 5-year-old population. The trial is being conducted under US IND and the FDA has also granted Fast Track designation.

J Robert Coleman, Ph.D., Codagenix, co-founder and CEO, said, 'Codagenix is focused on providing an effective prophylactic vaccine for infants and toddlers 6 months to 5 years old who, based on the recent data, may be at higher risk for hospitalization following infection despite recent innovations in other RSV vaccines for the elderly that are under review. As a live-attenuated, intranasal vaccine designed using our differentiated codon deoptimisation platform, CodaVax-RSV is particularly well positioned to address this significant unmet need since it has the potential to induce innate immunity and durable local and systemic immunity. We look forward to advancing this important clinical study as we work to deliver a vaccine capable of protecting this at-risk patient population.'